Influence of habitual and environmental contexts on snacking behavior: moderating effects of the tendency of savoring food and eating restraint

The current obesogenic environment, that is, the abundance of tasty and high-calorie food, induces snacking. This study examines the influence of habitual (e.g. previous eating behavior and automaticity of habit) and environmental (e.g. availability of food and food outlets) contexts on snacking. This study hypothesizes that personal factors such as the tendency of savoring food and eating restraint moderate the influence of habitual and environmental contexts. The study used 308 respondents recruited based on gender × age (20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, over 60s) segments in an online longitudinal survey and Bayesian models (valid sample size over 18 000) to predict snacking. The first survey measured the variables of habitual and environmental contexts. After 2 weeks, this study measured further snacking and the tendency of savoring food and eating restraint. The results demonstrated that the tendency of savoring food weakened the association between automaticity of habit and further snacking (b = .12, 95% CI = .02 to .24). Although eating restraint strengthened the association between previous snacking and further snacking, it weakened the association of the availability of snack food (b = -1.03, 95% CI = -2.07 to - .03) and fast food outlets with further snacking (b = -1.39, 95% CI = -2.17 to - .52). Consequently, the influence of habitual and environmental contexts on eating behavior can be moderated by the tendency of savoring food and eating restraint. These findings indicate the possibility of intervening in the obesogenic environment by controlling snacking through the tendency of savoring food and eating restraint.